Before i even learned that david was homeschooled, i was telling several of my friends how i believe homeschooling needs more oversight and rules because of the way it can end up shaping your life. at the time i could only go off of my own experience and the experience of other former homeschooled people.
seeing everyone string together how him being homeschooled could’ve led to this made perfect sense as to what ive been thinking about.
now am i saying every person that’s ever been or will ever be homeschooled will end up being a bad person or sociopathic murderer? obviously not. but there still needs to be a conversation had about the mental + social effects of it.
isolation at that age will more often than not be extremely detrimental to a child, especially dependent on the parents and their behavior since that’s who you’re stuck with that entire time (along with unlimited internet access, in david’s case.)
sometimes i have to slap myself because i don’t want to even come anywhere close to feeling empathy for that subhuman filth, but since i always wonder what my life would’ve looked like without being homeschooled, i often wonder the same about him. if this whole tragedy could’ve been avoided had he not been isolated.
my own personal anecdote: i was homeschooled for all of high school because of an illness that was causing me to miss too many days in brick and mortar school. my parents were extremely neglectful and abusive —> causing me to then go on and put myself in several nightmarish circumstances to feel the love i never got from my parents / friends —> i was in a full blown DV relationship from ages 17 - 20.
now i’m having to deal with my life being on pause all that time and not having a degree yet, and having to seek treatment for the PTSD i developed from that. i still struggle with standing up for myself if someone is simultaneously showing me love / affection. these things really do turn out this bad.
if you take anything away from this, please do not homeschool your children unless there is an absolutely necessary that outweighs the risks.